90. JAPANESE ANEMONES—STARS OF THE FALL GARDEN

I love late-season gardens, and I especially love the flowers that bloom in late summer and early fall. My favorites, besides chrysanthemums and asters, are the many cultivars of Japanese anemones (Anemones spp.). This easy-care perennial puts up elegant ball-shaped flower buds and has masses of dainty, daisy-like flowers in pink, lavender, and white with yellow centers borne on tall wiry stems. The flowers dance in the breeze, which is why it is also called windflower. Japanese anemones are relatively deer resistant with mounded foliage. It is one of my go-to plants. It is hardy from USDA zones 4–8.

‘Honorine Jobert’ Japanese anemone (Anemone × hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’) is the most popular of all fall-blooming anemones. It is an heirloom white anemone hybrid with daisy-like flowers surrounding frilly yellow stamens. The flowers sit elegantly atop 3- to 4-foot-tall stems and bloom from late summer to fall. It is an easy-to-grow perennial. The sunny, glowing flowers brighten up early fall gardens for weeks. Zones 4–8.

Japanese anemones can grow to 4 feet tall, although there are shorter cultivars like the semi-double white anemone ‘Whirlwind’ that only grows 2 feet tall. A taller cultivar like the deep pink, double-flowered ‘Bressingham Glow’ grows to 4 feet tall and may need staking to keep from falling over. It is suitable for the back of a plant bed, against a picket fence, or in open woodlands, under trees. Fall-blooming anemones are quite lovely on their own in mass plantings and will spread via underground stems. Divide them every few years to keep them within their boundary.

Japanese anemones inject a colorful punch and are a sweet surprise when tucked in a shrub border. They like well-drained soil that stays moist, and they grow in part sun. They like a little afternoon shade, especially in the southern USDA hardiness zones.

Since Japanese anemones are stars in the fall, combine them with spring or summer bloomers to extend the season of your plant beds. Plant them with tulips, daffodils, hosta, bleeding heart, astilbe, allium, and hardy geranium. The graceful sprays of Japanese anemone flowers can also be blended with other late summer to early fall performers for a sensational display. Try them with sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ asters, toad lily, coneflowers, goldenrod, and joe-pye weed.

The Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ (Anemone × hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’) was named the 2016 Perennial Plant of the Year by the PPA. It does best when planted in partial shade or protected from hot afternoon sun. These tough perennials will naturalize and form a colony over time. Zones 4–8.

‘Wild Swan’ hybrid anemone is a prolific flowering anemone with huge white flowers from late spring to fall! It is different from Japanese anemones as it is an Anemone rupicola hybrid. It does not reseed and is noninvasive. It grows only 18 inches high and is 16 inches wide. It has a beautiful purple reverse, which is evident when flowers close at night. Part shade preferred. Zones 5–8. It is shown here growing with purple toad lilies (Tricyrtis hirta), a shade-tolerant perennial.

“Flowers really do intoxicate me.”

—VITA SACKVILLE-WEST

‘Gold Heart’ bleeding heart has arching sprays of showy pink flowers with white tips in late spring. The flowers are the source of the plant’s common name, including the little white droplet dripping out from the bottom. You can plant several ‘Gold Heart’ bleeding hearts together in a large planter where they will brighten a shady corner in spring. Plant with astilbe, ferns, and hellebores for a deer-resistant display.